FALL OF FORT SUMTER



tlhroulgh their Commissioners and the relief of Fort Sumter.
O)n the first question he took at once a decided stand. The
Commissioners were informed that they could not be received
in any other capacity than as private citizens of the Republic.
   On the question of the relief of Sumter Lincoln did not
act at once. He felt his way cautiously, and the result of his
caution and shrewdness was to throw upon the Southerners
the onus of beginning hostilities. On April 11 Governor
Pickens of South Carolina, acting under instructions from
the Confederate President, demanded the surrender of the
fort. Major Anderson again declined, and early the next
morning the bombardment began. The flag was shot down,
Anderson surrendered, and the garrison marched out with
the honors of war.
   The news of the fall of Fort Sumter came to the North
like a bugle call to arms. From that moment the spirit of the
North began to rise, and Lincoln promptly issued a proclama-
tion calling for 75,000 men to enter army service for three
months, and summoning Congress to meet in extraordinary
session on the Fourth of July. He declared the object of the
call to be "to repossess the forts and places and property of
the United States which had been unlawfully seized."
   The country's response was immediate and enthusiastic.
Democrats and Republicans vied in making ready for the
conflict now at last clearly inevitable. The Confederate Pro-
visional Congress had already taken steps to organize an
army. Southern officers in the regular army resigned in
large numbers, and tendered their services to their several
States or to the Confederate Government. To Robert E.
Lee, Scott's favorite, was unofficially offered the command of
the Union army. He declined, gave up his commission,
offered his sword to his native State, and was put in com-
mand of all the Virginia forces. The Governors of the vari-
ous States exerted themselves with the utmost energy to help
                           863



1861